Kathleen Hall Jamieson

President Obama stood before the nation and pleaded with Congress to come to an agreement as soon as possible, in a prime-time speech to the American public last night. "We can't allow the American people to become collateral damage to Washington's political warfare," he said. House Speaker John Boehner immediately followed Obama's speech with his response, agreeing that the debate needs to be resolved, but urging Obama to sign on to the Republican proposal to raise the debt limit.

Presidents throughout history have had to deliver speeches in the wake of tragedy to comfort the nation. Ronald Reagan did so after the Challenger explosion; Bill Clinton after the Oklahoma City bombing and Columbine shootings; and George W. Bush after 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the Virginia Tech shootings. President Obama is set to deliver his own speech tonight in Arizona to try and comfort a nation following the shooting of twenty people, that left six dead. How will President Obama approach the events, and their political impliations, from the scene of the tragedy?

President Obama addressed the country last night, marking the official end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq. Balancing his own former opposition to the war with congratulating the troops required Obama, a gifted orator, to thread several rhetorical needles, but a larger question remains: do people care what Obama had to say about Iraq?

With the help of Kathleen Hall Jamieson, professor of communications and director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, we take a look at President Obama's Oval Office speech from last night. Jamieson analyzes the president's rhetoric, looking at whether it was effective in communicating his control over the Gulf oil crisis and setting up the changes in the country's energy policy.

From television, to talk radio, to the newsstands, Americans are inundated with news about the sorry state of politics. But are the media merely covering the story of D.C.'s gridlock, or are they creating it? For the second installment of our series, "Frustration Nation," we examine the role of the media and its impact on the political divisiveness in America and Washington, D.C., today.

President Obama delivered his first State of the Union address last night, covering a broad range of issues from our wars abroad, to the devastation in Haiti and the stalemate on healthcare reform at home. We talk with Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, to review what the President addressed in his speech.

President Obama completes his first year in office today, and the excitement and euphoria that characterized his inauguration has turned to skepticism and doubt about his agenda.

Since the health care debate began, advocacy groups, including the NAACP and the National Council of La Raza, have been arguing for a public option and for health care that's affordab...

President Obama appeared on no fewer than five media outlets over the weekend, trying to get the word out about his health care initiative, the war in Afghanistan and his missile defe...

There was a moment during the president's address to Congress last night when all eyes were not on President Obama. As the president called "untrue" the canard that health care refor...

When we talk about health care reform, we're talking about a process of government: it's messy, it's complicated, and the tone changes week to week. For Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Direct...

Now that the Pentagon has lifted its 18-year ban on press coverage of the return of America's war dead, will the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan return to the national conversation? Or h...

He’s the first sitting president to appear on a late-night talk show. He’s been on the cover of GQ and Vanity Fair. His weekly “radio” address airs on YouTube and his emails are still...

The first take on media coverage of the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing.